London Heathrow to New York JFK: the only billion-dollar route in the world

According to UK-based air travel intelligence company OAG, British Airways' service between London Heathrow and New York's JFK is the world's most lucrative route.

The JFK-LHR route earned BA more than $1.15 billion between April 2018 and 2019. With more than 600 flights per month, that breaks down to a hourly revenue of $27,159 -- a 10% increase on last year.

Emirates airline’s route to London Heathrow is the third most lucrative route in the world, according to OAG.

The most important route for the Dubai-based carrier brought in revenues of $796 million last year. Emirates operates seven daily flights from Dubai to London Heathrow, with seven returning in the opposite direction.

John Grant of OAG, who compiled the list of the 10 highest-grossing services around the world, said: “For every airline there are a small selection of lucrative routes where either competitive advantage, market circumstances or limited competition make for very attractive revenues.”

The ten routes amassed a total of more than $6bn between April 2018 and March 2019.

The Heathrow service to JFK New York took number one spot, breaking the $1bn mark with revenue of $1.15bn. Five of the top ten routes operate from Heathrow, serving New York, Dubai, Singapore, Doha and Hong Kong.

Grant added: “It is equally likely that, for each of these airlines, operating profits are amongst the highest on their respective networks.”

Half of the top ten routes are operated by oneWorld Alliance members with no Skyteam Alliance member route featuring.